Conservative MP Simon Hart said at least three "credible" threats against Tory MPs had been dealt with every week since the General Election.

Mr Hart, who represents Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, said these included death threats, criminal damage, sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and "general thuggishness".

Speaking at a parliamentary debate on the issue, Mr Hart said that when he was first elected seven years ago elections were a few weeks of "robust banter followed by a shake of the hand and a pint in the pub".

Video:Naz Shah: MPs receive abuse on a daily basis

But he said things were now different, with "swastikas on election boards, offensive slogans and language on posters".

Labour MP Paula Sherriff said she "can't remember a single day" without being abused since becoming an MP in 2015, with the last election the "most brutal".

The Dewsbury MP said the abuse included death threats and a picture of her "mocked up as a used sanitary towel" - an apparent attack on her campaigning to scrap the so-called "tampon tax".

She said the issue needed to be looked at from a "non-partisan view" and that there had to be acceptance that "in all of our parties, as much as it hurts us, there are people who don't represent our values".

Labour colleague Jeff Smith questioned the role of some newspapers, saying they had created a climate in which it is "OK to abuse politicians".

Video:Police probe dozens of cases of online abuse against MPs

Conservative MP Rehman Chishti said: "So when I stand up to make my acceptance speech to thank all the electorate, to have an activist, in public, say 'F*** off back to country X', and the matter is then referred to Kent Police, and they are investigating it under public order and racism, so let them do their job."

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said she had received rape and death threats in emails and on social media, and had been described as an "ugly fat black bitch" and a "n*****".

She said a member of her staff had told her the most surprising thing about working for her was how often she "has to read the word n*****".